‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house,
Not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse,
Little Susie asleep with her dollies galore,
And a dozen stuffed animals strewn on the floor.
Articles with 2001
Photo by Sabri Tuzcu on Unsplash
Photo by Mario Purisic on Unsplash
In search of universe’s point
Nobel prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg is perhaps best known to the general public as author of a scrappy remark near the end of his 1977 best-selling book, “The First Three Minutes.” He wrote: “The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless.”
Photo by Julian Wirth on Unsplash
The gray areas save the world
Let me speak for gray.
Photo by Edward Paterson on Unsplash
Can’t see heavens for all the stars
This is the time of year when anyone who teaches or writes about astronomy is deluged with the question: What kind of telescope should I buy my kid for Christmas?
Photo by Matthew Wiebe on Unsplash
Memories etch sense of self
Neurologist Antonio Damasio suggests in his book “Descartes’ Error” that the great French philosopher got it backwards: Not “I think, therefore I am,” but rather “I am, therefore I think.”
Photo by Pixabay
Pondering death in this life cycle
My first Social Security check arrived this week, a bittersweet milestone. On the one hand, it means a modest release from the pressure of making a living; more time to smell the roses, so to speak. On the other hand, the check will be a monthly reminder of…
Photo by Stephen Andrews on Unsplash
Instinctive speech diminishes us not
Is language something we are born with, or is it something we learn in the first few years of life?
Photo by Joshua Woroniecki on Unsplash
Human lessons from birds’ vee
Honk time. One of those late fall mornings when the sky turns a Maxfield Parrish blue just before sunrise. One, two, three ragged files of Canada geese skim the treetops above my head, preceded and followed by their honking chorus, a noise of ram’s horns and shouts that would have toppled the walls of Jericho.
Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash
Best cool things are often free
Hey, I think of myself as an outdoorsy kind of guy. I walk the woods and meadows every day. I bike. I climb mountains. I do my bit for the environment. So, when Outside magazine promises to tell me “The Best 120 Cool Things” for the outdoorsy life, I’m ready to listen.
Photo by James Wainscoat on Unsplash
Organic machines aren’t expendable
They took the stage as representatives of “reason and wildness,” respectively, two articulate authors and thinkers who come at the world very differently.